Week 14 – Lagos and Lisbon

 Lagos:

·         To get to Lagos, we walked to the train, transferred trains in Seville, walked to a bus stop in Huelva and rode it to Ayamonte, walked to the ferry then took it across to Vila de in Portugal, walked to the train, switched trains in Faro, then took a taxi to the hotel.  A little over 10 hours.

·         We took a walking tour with Ligios, who included a tour of the fish and food market, street art, the botanical garden, and some history.  This was also a Roman settlement but there are almost no traces – in the 14^th century the walls were rebuilt. 

·         We met Quiein, a 30-year old from Vienna on a year’s sabbatical, Andriey, a 30-something digital nomad from Odessa not sure where he will settle, and Alan and Connie, in their 60’s from northern Saskatchewan who have traveled all over the world, including China in 1978 and owned a place in Mexico for 7 years with Connie’s sister. 

·         Alan and Connie shipped their 70’s VW campervan to Rotterdam in October and are wandering.  We rode with them one day to Sagres, a town with a 15^th century fort which as far as I know never saw a lot of action, maybe a sign the fort was an effective deterrent (it does look well-situated) or maybe the sign-makers weren’t good storytellers.  Connie and Alan are warm and seem to know someone in every country.  They decided to stay put in a Lagos apartment for the month, which with it raining 9 out of 10 days in mid-December looks like a good call instead of camping.

·         Portugal is proud that it once was the biggest globalizer in the world.  A big earthquake plus resulting fires and tsunami in 1755 was a big setback, followed by Napoleon’s invasion, which even though he never technically captured Portugal inflicted a lot of damage.

·         Lagos, Nigeria was named after here because it was once a busy slave port.  Portugal is proud to be the first country to outlaw slavery (or maybe technically the first slave-trading country to do so.)  I tried reading on the global history of slavery, where it varies by region over time.  For example, in some places, children born to slaves were automatically free.

·         After being in Spain when they got knocked out of the World Cup by Morocco, we were in a bar when Portugal lost to them.  We hope to catch the semifinals, rooting for Argentina (in part for Ines) and Morocco (as the underdog.)

·         We were there during an unusually stormy stretch but lucked out with enough good weather on a couple of days to get some good walking in along the cliffs, which with a rough surf crashing into the sandstone cliffs was stunning from dozens of spots and angles.

·         We took 2 boat tours:  One a smaller, slower, gentler one with 7 others along the Ponta de Piedade, the tip of Lagos, to see the cliffs from below.  The seas were rough enough they didn’t get too close to the rocks but I would love to go back on a kayak tour on a calmer day (they weren’t running any kayaks with the swells so big.)  The second was also fully, with 17, and included 30 minutes there and back a high speed over the big swells – really fun.

·         The food again was good but not great, but the wine was great and so was the hotel, a bit of a splurge in a resort outside of town that seemed at 25% occupancy but universally friendly staff and a view of the ocean ¼ mile below.

Lisbon:

·         It’s a hilly town.  Google maps doesn’t show contour lines. 

·         The rain continued, with flooding in parts of town but with a few periods of clear skies.

·         We took a walking tour with Jose, who explained a third component of Portugal’s decline as a world power was the brain drain that came with the Inquisition.  He compared it to the current brain drain still underway as Portugal recovers from the great recession a decade ago.  We started with 14 and finished with 6, as the rain discouraged some of the walkers.  Jose was great, showing love and respect for his hometown.  He started the tour company with friends 15 years ago, when his job prospects were really bad.

·         After the earthquake in 1755, the church explained it was god’s will, and punishment to the city’s Christians needing to pray more and pay more.  Scientists countered with their own reasons, Including that Muslims and Jews had better survival rates because in their neighborhoods they weren’t lighting candles on All Saints Day.  The scientific approach helped bring about the Enlightenment, so I think Lisbon considers itself the, or at least a, birthplace of it.

·         The town rebuilt itself in 20 years, using updated building codes and standardized components and the planner is now a hero of the town.  The king got claustrophobia and moved out of town, returning only to dedicate a statue with his likeness, not realizing the subtle (and brilliant) digs the artist included. 

·         Our last night there had a busker playing electric guitar near our hotel, in the heart of a tourist district at 10:00 pm.  There was a crowd of 40 watching him, singing along to what I guess was a traditional Portuguese song, when 8 teens celebrating France making it to finals of the World came dancing down the street.  He invited them into the middle of the circle, which amped up the party.  He played a mix of songs, including Guantanamera, La Macarena, and Hallelujah (with Portuguese lyrics.)  It was so much better than the Christmas jazz at dinner.  After I went back to tip, I turned down an offer of hash, even though the seller talked himself down to 3 Euros.

Misc:

·         We are both looking forward to a thorough washing of our clothes and simply swapping out everything we’ve been wearing.  And to seeing family and friends.

·         Portuguese is similar enough to Spanish to tempt me to try it and see what is the same (e.g., si and por favor are, gracias isn’t) but I’ve read that it’s offensive so I used more English than Espuguese.

Epilogue, of sorts:

·         Walking was our primary form of exercise and exploration, with my guess is at least 3 miles a day.  Lisbon and Ghent were our top mileage cities.

·         Things to leave behind next time:  Boots, unless we’re hiking in snow - took too long to dry out.  Sunscreen, even if it’s not summer.

·         Things to take again:  Small umbrella.  Rain jacket.  Lots of socks.  Laptop.  Travel belt.  Karen.  Baseball hat and beanie.

·         Things to leave behind:  Binoculars.  Paper books (Lonely Planet guides were heavy, so we left one in Scotland and the other in Germany.)

·         Things to repeat:  Take walking tours.  Tip.  Read Wikipedia pages about the places.  Walk all over.

·         Things to do different:  Maybe schedule a multi-day trek.  Spent more time on average in each place (no regrets on the amount of exploring this time.)  Get a European phone access.

·         This didn’t travel our travel bug any more than a hit of crack fix Robert Downey Jr’s. Next possible destinations:  Malaysia, Belize, the American West.  I hope to learn to learn to scuba, surf, or windsurf in the next 2 years.  Or to relearn skiing.

 

Week 13 – Cordoba

Cordoba:

·         Around 1000, Cordoba was the largest city in Europe, thriving under Muslim rule with Jews and Christians tolerated, although with limited rights.  Like Arles, it was a Roman settlement 2,000 years ago and was declared a UNSECO site decades ago.

·         We took walking tours with Isabela, Maria, and Jose.  Jose is 47 and thinking about a PhD in archeology and was excellent at answering questions as he took us through the Mezquita, the cathedral that used to be a mosque.  The others took us on city tours and were good but didn’t have the same depth.  Plus, even though the Mezquita had a very plain exterior the interior was beautiful, varied, and enormous.  It was started in the 8^th century and a lot of the columns were recycled from the Roman buildings.

·         The town itself was loaded with Spanish tourists.  We knew there were 2 holidays in Spain this week but didn’t realize schools went ahead and closed for the whole week.  The level of English was lower than I expected but it was a relief to feel like I could communicate at least a little in the local language (verb tenses and overconfidence being my weakest points.)  We met some Americans, including Zack from Paris, Texas during the American-Netherlands game who is teaching English in Madrid.

·         The food in town was again only OK, except for the flan on the first night, which was outstanding.  And the house wine was generally good.

·         Spain lost to Morocco on our last night, which meant no wild celebrations but when we walked to a gluten-free bakery during the game it was a ghost town – I bet there were about as many people walking about at midnight.  But the game watching itself wasn’t as visible as I expected – about 1/3 of the bars didn’t have a TV and the others weren’t packed, even outside the touristic area.

·         We also rode 2 Hop On Hop Off tours, which weren’t bad for seeing the city outside of the historic district but nothing special.

·         We went to a horse show where the riders did some dancelike movements.  Karen liked it more than I did.

·         The Xmas market wasn’t in full swing yet, but there was definitely an American flavor to what they had, including the songs and even seeing “Merry Christmas” in English on some storefronts.  They had a small skating rink in town, with slushy ice and tentative skaters who made me look like an average skater.

·         Throughout this trip we’ve been trying to eat big breakfasts and a snack for lunch, then an early dinner, but it was harder in a place where a lot of the restaurants close after lunch and don’t reopen until 8:00 PM.